(i)

considered the report from the Director for Community Services;

(ii)

considered the written representations and heard from interested parties;

(iii)

heard from the applicant that:

·        

they wanted to be involved in the community; they have a community board in the premises at the moment;

·        

they would have 18 covers in the premises and wanted to have the option to provide take away food and drink although their main aim was to provide sit down breakfasts;

·        

they were asking to open until 5am 7 days a week but may not be open for that length of time as it would depend upon the level of custom;

·        

they had their own residents in the same block as the premises so were also concerned with disturbances and would do all they could to make sure their premises did not add to existing problems. They felt that providing a meal may reduce problems in the area;

·        

there was a problem with rubbish in the area but this mainly came from a new residential building in the area which did not have suitable provision for rubbish. The applicants were regularly clearing the area themselves;

·        

they did not consider they would bring additional people into the area as it would be passing trade they would attract;

·        

they would have CCTV installed and would work with the police;

·        

they were experienced licensees;

·        

the applicants had installed extra lighting in Gibbon Lane to improve the area and prevent problems;

(vi)

considered representations under the licensing objectives as follows:

a)

Prevention of Public Nuisance –

·        

granting a food licence until 5am would have a detrimental impact on the local community as the premises was very near a school and residential housing. It would draw a large number of intoxicated individuals into the area with resulting noise, disturbance and anti social behaviour. They already suffer with pavements being littered with vomit, broken glass and urine after weekend evenings; this was considered to be relevant but there was no evidence to support this bearing in mind the size of the premises;

·        

there was a paved area with seating around the corner from the café and interested parties were concerned that this would become even more of a focus for loitering and disruptive behaviour; this was considered to be relevant and members felt that this would be addressed by the imposition of a special condition;

·        

the local community already suffered from broken glass on pavements and interested parties feared that the granting of the licence would aggravate this and add to litter and mess which was already a problem in the area; this was considered to be relevant and members considered that this problem would be addressed by the imposition of a special condition;

b)

Prevention of Crime and Disorder –

·        

residents feared an increase in antisocial behaviour, damage to vehicles and other petty crime due to the drawing in of larger numbers of inebriated individuals and groups in the area if the licence was granted; this was considered to be relevant but there was no evidence to support this bearing in mind the proposed size of the premises;

c)

Protection of Children from Harm –

as this is a very late licence interested parties were concerned that noise would have an impact on surrounding houses where pupils of the local school live.  This noise could interrupt children’s sleep which would adversely affect the learning of the pupils; this was considered to be relevant but there was no evidence to support this although members considered that the special condition would address any potential problems;

d)

Public Safety –

·        

the granting of the licence would lead to an increase in broken glass and vomit which would represent a health and safety hazard to pupils walking to and from a nearby school; this was considered to be relevant and members felt that the special condition would address this;

e)

Other representations –

·        

due to the numbers of licensed premises on North Hill the granting of another late licence so close to residential housing would mean that families would have no choice but to move away from the Greenbank area due to the associated antisocial behaviour and nuisance, having a further negative impact on the school and community; this was not considered to be relevant as it did not come within one of the four licensing objectives;

·        

the presence of rubbish and glass strewn around is at odds with the teaching ethos to encourage pupils to become responsible citizens; this was not considered to be relevant in these terms as the concerns did not fall within one of the four licensing objectives but the concern in relation to rubbish and glass had been dealt with earlier under the relevant licensing objective;

·        

there was already another hot food outlet within 100m of the Breakers Café which had resulted in a negative impact within the community; this was not considered relevant as it did not relate to one of the four licensing objectives

(1)

(2)

Between the hours of 11pm and 5am late night refreshment must be consumed on the premises. Provision of late night refreshment for take away is not permitted.

A sign is to be placed in the window of the premises to advise patrons that take away food is not permitted between 11pm and 5am.